List of webcomic awards


This article provides a list of notable awards for webcomics and some of the winners from each year.
Webcomics may be eligible for any number of literary awards that recognise achievement in comics or literature generally. As examples, webcomic artists have won Ignatz Awards and Eisner Awards, Gene Luen Yang's graphic novel American Born Chinese, was the first graphic novel to be nominated for a National Book Award, and Don Hertzfeldt's animated film Everything Will Be OK, which won the 2007 Sundance Film Festival Jury Award in Short Filmmaking, was based on his webcomics.
However, a number of awards have existed that are specifically for webcomics, or which focus mainly on webcomics. This list details these awards, including their source, criteria, and winners.

Awards relating to multiple mediums

Pulitzer Prizes

The Pulitzer Prize is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition within the United States. In 2010, Mark Fiore won a Pulitzer Prize, becoming the first cartoonist to win a Pulitzer for an entry of entirely online cartoons. Fiore was later also a finalist for the Pulitzer in 2018. In 2012 and again in 2020, Matt Bors was a finalist for the Pulitzer, for his webcomics that appeared in the online magazine he founded, The Nib. In 2015, Tom Tomorrow was a finalist for the Pulitzer based on his This Modern World comics published by the website Daily Kos.

Ursa Major Awards

The Ursa Major Awards relate to furry media, such as video, written works, and comics. They were first presented in 2001 for works produced in the previous year. In 2004, a category for comic strips that feature anthropomorphic characters was introduced. Despite the category including all forms of comics, all winners have been webcomics.
YearTitleCreatorWebsiteCitation
2004Kevin and KellBill Holbrook
2005Faux PasRobert and Margaret Carspecken
2006Faux PasRobert and Margaret Carspecken
2007Ozy and MillieDana Simpson
2008Ozy and MillieDana Simpson
2009Fur-PiledLeo Magna
2010Housepets!Rick Griffin
2011Housepets!Rick Griffin
2012Housepets!Rick Griffin
2013Housepets!Rick Griffin
2014Housepets!Rick Griffin
2015Housepets!Rick Griffin
2016Housepets!Rick Griffin
2017Housepets!Rick Griffin
2018Housepets!Rick Griffin
2019Carry OnKathryn Garrison Kellogg
2020Housepets!Rick Griffin
2021Housepets!Rick Griffin
2022Carry OnKathryn Garrison Kellogg
2023The WhiteboardDoc Nickel
2024Foxes in LoveToivo Kaartinen

Weblog Awards

The Weblog Awards were held from 2003 to 2008 and featured a Best Comic Strip category starting in 2006.
YearTitleCreatorWebsiteCitation
2006Least I Could DoRyan Sohmer and Lar deSouza
2007xkcdRandall Munroe
2008xkcdRandall Munroe

Comic awards that include a webcomic category

Cartoonist Studio Prize

Presented by the Slate Book Review and the Center for Cartoon Studies, the Cartoonist Studio Prize was first awarded in 2013 for work produced during the previous year. The award has two categories, "Best Print Comic" and "Best Web Comic".
YearTitleCreatorWebsiteCitation
2013NimonaND Stevenson
2014Out of SkinEmily Carroll
2015Watching ''Winston Rowntree
2016I Want to BelieveBoulet
2017On BeautyChristina Tran
2018Leaving Richard's ValleyMichael DeForge
2019Being an Artist and a MotherLauren Weinstein
2020East Street Diners ClubWill Dinski

DiNKY Awards

The Denver Independent Comics & Arts Expo gave out comics awards with multiple categories, including the Best Web Comics award.
The category was called "Outstanding Web Comic" in 2016. The following year it was renamed "Best Web Comic".
YearTitleCreatorWebsiteCitation
2016Some Did RestNiki Smith
2017Mare InternumDer-shing Helmer
2018Finding HomeHari Conner
2019Where No One LivesZorika Gaeta

Eagle Awards

The Eagle Award was a series of awards for comic book titles and creators voted on by UK fans. It ran from 1977 to 2012 but was not presented every year. From 2001 until its conclusion it included an award for Favourite Web-based Comic. The winners of that category are listed below:
YearTitleCreatorWebsiteCitation
2001Sluggy FreelancePete Abrams
2005PvPScott Kurtz
2006Supernatural LawBatton Lash
2007Penny ArcadeJerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik
2008The Order of the StickRich Burlew
2010FreakAngelsWarren Ellis and Paul Duffield
2011Axe CopEthan Nicolle and Malachai Nicolle
2012FreakAngelsWarren Ellis and Paul Duffield

Eisner Award

The Will Eisner Comic Industry Award, commonly shortened to the Eisner Award, is a prize given since 1988 for creative achievement in American comic books. In 2003, Justine Shaw's Nowhere Girl received a nomination for an Eisner award in the "best new series" category, while Shaw was nominated for "talent deserving of wider recognition", making her the first webcomic artist to be nominated for an Eisner.
In addition to considering works published online for general categories, the Eisner Awards have included categories only for digital works since 2005. The category Best Digital Comic was awarded each year from 2005 through to 2016, though was renamed Best Webcomic in 2009. Paste Magazine noted in 2016 that the Eisner's conflation of "digital comic" and "webcomic" may cause independent works to be overshadowed by online services such as Marvel Unlimited and DC Comics' "Digital First". In 2017, the category was split into "Best Digital Comic" and "Best Webcomic" and as of 2020 these two categories remain.
The table below shows the winners of Best Digital Comic/Webcomic and of Best Webcomic.
YearTitleCreatorWebsiteCitation
2005Mom's CancerBrian Fies
2006PvPScott Kurtz
2007Sam & Max: The Big SleepSteve Purcell
2008Sugarshock!Joss Whedon and Fábio Moon website is offline
2009FinderCarla Speed McNeil
2010Sin TituloCameron Stewart
2011The Abominable Charles ChristopherKarl Kerschl
2012BattlepugMike Norton
2013BandettePaul Tobin and Colleen CooverComixology
2014The OatmealMatthew Inman
2015The Private EyeBrian K. Vaughan and Marcos Martín
2016BandettePaul Tobin and Colleen Coover on Comixology
2017Bird BoyAnne Szabla
2018The Tea Dragon SocietyKatie O'Neill
2019The ContradictionsSophie Yanow
2020Fried Rice ComicErica Eng
2021Crisis ZoneSimon Hanselmann
2022Lore OlympusRachel Smythe
2023Lore OlympusRachel Smythe